Disruptive Innovation in Communication Apps

The emergence of social payment and usage of social apps for buying and selling services and products was considered as threats to the banking industry. The usage of WeChat in China has fundamentally altered the whole digital communication landscape. WeChat has over 1.17 billion users. During the COVID-19 pandemic, WeChat implemented various plans to help recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including consumer awareness, WeChat live stream communication platform, and one-to-one consultation through social media services to assist retailers and increase sales. In addition, they implemented WeChat Work 3.0 for remote working during the pandemic, cross-border e-commerce, and Mini Club Program to converts overseas brick-and-mortar shoppers to online members. WeChat and Facebook facilitated WeChat pay and Facebook pay through their social commerce platform because of market power. This chapter discusses the emergence of WeChat and how it impacts the payment systems.

The Relationship Between COVID-19 (Cases and Deaths) and Stock Markets

The numbers of COVID-19 increase daily, both confirmed cases and deaths. All over the world, shock waves are felt with impacts on economies in general and the financial sector in particular. Aiming to assess the relationship between confirmed cases and deaths and the behaviour of stock markets, the authors perform a dynamic analysis, based on the Pearson correlation coefficient, for 10 of the most affected countries in the world. As expected, they find evidence that the number of COVID-19 cases had a negative effect on stock markets, and that the current second wave is penalizing them. They also find that deaths have a more relevant impact than the number of confirmed cases.

COVID-19 and the Resilience of Tourism Businesses in Portugal

The pandemic of SARS-COV-2 has significantly affected tourism, and many tourism companies have seen their revenue significantly reduced. Thus, the question arises: 'How resilient are tourism companies to the COVID-19 pandemic (1st wave) effects on their activity?' This chapter presents the preliminary results of a broader research project: RE.COV.ER. Based on a sample of 1,075 tourism companies operating in Portugal, this study describes the impact of the pandemic's first wave on tourism companies and explores their resilience. Results reveal a high level of impact of the pandemic on tourism companies. In terms of resilience, most companies' managers are perceived as proactive, and many companies implemented mitigation measures. Even though half of the companies could not find effective responses to the situation, there is, however, one small group of companies that seem to be more resilient, suggesting the need for more investigation on the reasons why.

Socially Responsible Buyers' Online Trust on the Website and Their Level of Satisfaction

The study focuses on a sample of 663 socially responsible online consumers from the Sonora, Baja California, and Sinaloa regions in Mexico. For the data collection, it was carried out during the months of April to August 2020, and an online questionnaire was used addressed to each of the residents of these regions between the ages of 20 and 55 and who are economically active. The objective of this manuscript is 1) to identify the effect that the website has on socially responsible buyers and their level of satisfaction; 2) to identify if socially responsible buyers have an effect on customer satisfaction; 3) on the other hand, to demonstrate if the buyer experience has a moderating effect between website security and socially responsible buyers; and 4) verify if the buyer experience has a moderating effect between socially responsible buyers and the level of customer satisfaction.

DataPro

Due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, most countries are exposed to unprecedented social problems in the current global situation. According to the official reports, it caused a dramatic increase of 44% in graduates' unemployment rate in Portugal. Moreover, from the human resource point of view, the whole of Europe is expected to face a shortage of 925,000 data professionals by 2025. Given the existing situations, the DataPro aims to propose a national-level reskilling solution in big data to mitigate both social problems of unemployability and the shortage of data professionals in Portugal. DataPro project consists of four dimensions, including an online portal for the hiring companies and unemployed graduates, along with a web-based analytics talent upskilling (ATU) platform empowered by an artificial intelligence recommender system to match the reskilled data professionals and the hiring companies.

An Applied Analytics Approach for Facility Location Optimization in Logistics With Actionable Insights for Logistics Managers

The structure of logistic distribution networks is one of the most strategic topics in industrial facility management. This study aims to optimize the logistics structure of the LPR company in Portugal by utilizing the applied analytics methods. In doing so, both locations of facilities and structure of the logistics networks were considered as the target of the optimization process. After analyzing the 12-month historical data of the studied company with more than 8,000 customers and drop points, the optimized logistics structure and warehouse locations were determined that could deduct the logistics costs by 22%. To this end, a linear optimization algorithm was developed to identify the optimum logistic structure among more than 20 million possible network configurations. The proposed solution is applicable in the other industries with logistics operations, helping the managers to make data-driven decisions.

The Effect of Early Age Involvement to Individuals' Financial Literacy and Financial Well-Being

Financial literacy is an essential skill, and it is even more critical during economic crises. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the global and domestic economies. While some of its aspects are beyond individual control, financial knowledge can help mitigate the economic crisis, manage income, and help people manage their respective finances. In the past decade, Malaysia experienced a volatile financial environment domestically, but the reverberations were also felt regionally and globally. Variations such as inflation, currency and interest rates fluctuation, and increased living costs affected a significant change, not only to the Malaysian economic landscape but also to individuals. These shortcomings were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its resulting cash-flow problems, where some companies reported “zero income” and reversed the economic growth to -6% in 2020. Youth unemployment tripled (11.7%). Cash-flow imbalances occurred due to payroll, business loans, utilities, and other fixed costs that business owners were obligated to meet.

Cushioning the Economy From COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has left the world in complete disarray. Different economies around the world have tackled the COVID-19 pandemic differently, with several monetary and fiscal policies being introduced to combat the devastating effects the pandemic has had on the economy. This chapter focuses on some of the most economically powerful countries and their policies to overcome pandemic-related adversities. More importantly, it gives insights on how COVID-19 is different from earlier crises in terms of its characteristics and also in terms of the uniqueness of the initiatives taken by the major economies in mitigating its impact. The chapter also discusses how the new-age technologies can help manage this crisis better. The study also discusses the implications for the policymakers, the governments, the executioners, and the think tanks or consultants to the decision makers.

Critical Analysis of the World Economy and Deglobalization Processes in Times of Pandemic

This chapter aims to critically analyze both the world economy and the deglobalization processes under the assumption that they are the result of a dialectical evolution of economic, financial, political, and sanitary crisis. This dialectical movement of the history of the globalization and deglobalization processes is always a very complex phenomena of interactions between the economic agents and political actors, leading to both progressive and regressive events of economic growth, social development, and environmental sustainability. After a period of intensive economic, trade, and financial integration in the creation of a world economy system, suddenly the economic, financial, and sanitary dysfunctionalities emerged at the interior and created a reactive deglobalization process. However, what has been at the center are the international cooperation and trade relations determined by the need to expand the possibilities of satisfying human needs, including culture.

Entrepreneurial Activity Dynamics That Enhance Tourism in Montijo Municipality

Montijo municipality is in Setúbal district and belongs to Lisbon metropolitan area. Many new projects have emerged in the county related to tourism. However, the health crisis that plagued the world in early 2020 raised several concerns about the entrepreneurial activity of this municipality. Thus, this study has as main objective to broadcast the entrepreneurial activity that enhances tourism in Montijo municipality, before the health crisis and to present a reflection on the future of this activity in the post-COVID-19 era. It was possible to verify that the county has a set of positive indicators with regard to tourism activity and is one of the most dynamic at national level in terms of entrepreneurship. Besides that, the implementation of new business models, new products and services, new distribution and marketing forms, based on information and communication technologies can be very important to disseminate the region and to add value to the tourist experience and business, contributing to making the region a national reference of economic and social progress.